Page 45 of Petals of Blue: Part One
"Like the Roman Empire?" I tease. Jared snorts behind me, and I smile. "Can I call you Rome?"
Roman smirks and leans against his locker like all hot guys do. "Only if I can call you, Petal."
I feel my nose scrunch. "Why Petal?"
"Because you have a few in your hair," he says, reaching forward and pulling, I shit you not, a blue freaking flower petal from my hair.
"Oh my god," I groan. "This is so embarrassing." So much for not being nervous. "I hit my head on one of those stupid hanging flowerpots by the side entrance."
Jared and Declan laugh but don't seem all that surprised. I'm easily distracted, or incredibly focused, however you want to look at it.
"Shut up, I was running late." I huff and brush my hands through my ashy blonde waves.
Roman fingers the soft blue petal and melts my heart. "Petal suits you."
"You're doing it again..."
I cringe. "Sorry. Where was I?"
Twenty-Nine
VIOLET
“Sorry. Where was I?"
I really want to tease Blue for zoning out when it's obvious she's daydreaming about those men, but I don't. This is hard for her to talk about, and making fun of her would not be helpful.
"You hung out with them. Two are brothers. One lived in a different county. What happened to make you all separate?" I know it's going to be bad, especially seeing how Ma has been acting the past month or two.
Mama Blue has been acting like her old self. Lost in her thoughts, trying to get through each day like it's a hardship, watching her surroundings more. She's behaving as if we still live with my bio mom.
Stressed, worried, anxious, avoidant...
I may have been gone for a bit on my trip, but even over the phone she was acting strange.I shouldn't have left.
"Honestly, V...It's a stupid ass reason I'm trying to come to terms with."Oh, this should be good. "Roman told me what happened. Or at least some of it."
"And?" I'm literally buzzing, needing to know like yesterday.
Ma sighs, looking freaking exhausted. "Small backstory. Roman and Declan's parents are very wealthy. Same as Felix's parents. The four of them are the best of toxic friends."
"And I'm assuming even before I came to live with you and Linda, she was poor?"
"You assume correctly," Blue confirms. "So what I gathered, their parents—not Jared's because they were always wonderful—didn't like me or Linda. They started whispering in their ears saying I would drag them down. Plus, they were going to move away for college, so what was the point in keeping me around, right?"
What the hell?
She takes a sip of her latte, but the caffeine doesn't lift her slumped posture. "They started pulling away when I was in senior year. It was easier for Roman and Felix to cut me out because they were touring colleges and planning their lives. Jared and Declan though." Blue shakes her head. "They got short with me. Started leaving me out of plans."
"Assholes!" I shout, pissed they could do that to her.
"It gets worse," Ma cuts off my impending rampage. "Your mom moved us from Seattle to Tacoma during my senior year."
"Let me guess," I spit bitterly, "new boyfriend?"Fucking Linda.
"Yep. And it was the perfect opportunity for them to ghost me. I moved an hour away and thought they'd still make the effort to see me like they did with Felix.Nope. They didn't answer my calls or texts for months."
I gasp, unable to control my reaction. "What the hell?! You never heard from them again until they moved here to Chicago?!"
